Working as Intended
by Kirsh
Summary: Balthier believes Vaan is completely uninterested in him, and so being so close to the boy begins to grate on his nerves. Fran and Penelo decide to take it into their own hands to get Balthier what he wants, considering Vaan wants the same thing.


For as loud and as boisterous as Vaan could be, he was surprisingly quiet in bed.

Balthier watched the tanned expanse of Vaan's chest rise and fall with quickened breath, the young man's blue-grey eyes squeezed shut as pleasure coursed through his blood. Balthier's lips caressed Vaan's stomach, teasing each line of his defined muscles and the indent of his belly button but going no lower. Not yet. His hands were steady on either side of Vaan's hips, holding the boy in place while he administered attention to his skin.

 _How did we end up like this?_ Balthier wondered. Vaan's fingers flexed on his shoulders, creating soft indents with his nails. _Ah, yes, now I remember._

It was Fran's fault.

The Viera noticed too much for her own good, and what's worse, she actually recruited Penelo to help her. Balthier couldn't really be mad at them, however. He'd let the secret slip each time he looked at Vaan or made an off-hand remark about the boy's well-being. Vaan, apparently denser than a brick when it came to things like romance, had completely ignored his words or had taken them at face value. Penelo, however, like Fran, heard too much for her own good. Between the girl and the Viera, a plan had been concocted to put Balthier and Vaan in the position they were now.

It had been nearly impossible for the women to enact the plan while they were aiding Princess Ashe struggle against the machinations of Vayne Solidor and Venat, the betrayer Occuria, for they had simply been too busy trying to survive from one event to the next in one piece. But they watched and they waited, and after a long year had passed, the two sky pirates and the two aspiring sky pirates had once again banded together for another adventure. And thusly, Fran and Penelo had begun to put their plan into motion.

Vaan let out a breathy gasp as Balthier slid his tongue lower at last, teasing at the expanse of skin between the boy's lower stomach and cock. His body arched, his eyes still closed tight, and his nails dug deeper furrows into Balthier's skin. Balthier let out a sensuous growl of his own at the pinch of pain and lightly bit Vaan in retaliation. His fingers instantly relaxed and a whispered apology escaped his lips.

It had all started when the _Strahl_ began to have engine trouble. Balthier should've seen the ploy for what it was, a clever plan cooked up by the women, who had insisted upon Fran and Vaan switching places that day and trading ships, but Balthier had been in a rather grumpy mood that day and Vaan wasn't helping in the least bit by his constant chatter. Whatever inane thing he was discussing with Penelo had been grating on Balthier's nerves, so when the engine blew, he'd all but yelled at Vaan to shut up. The boy looked at him owlishly, then reported to Penelo and Fran that they were landing the _Strahl_ because the engine had started to smoke.

"Fran, get down here." Balthier had ordered. "Help me with this."

She had, then claimed that a part had been damaged and she and Penelo would go to the nearest city to find a replacement. Before either he or Vaan had a chance to argue, the women were gone and they were alone in the wild with a downed ship and each other.

"I bet I could fix it," Vaan said.

Balthier only glowered at Vaan. He wasn't sure why he was in such a foul mood, but Vaan was probably the cause of it, because of his obliviousness to Balthier. If the sky pirate didn't know the Rabanastrean boy as he did, he'd think Vaan was just playing hard to get and not really as dense as a brick. Any advances Balthier attempted covertly on Vaan made the teenager look at him dumbly but made Penelo blush to the point Balthier thought the girl would die of blood loss. He was only grateful that Fran kept her mouth shut, though the Viera often wore a secretive smile.

"Let's just wait for the ladies to return, shall we?" Balthier replied, leaning against the _Strahl_ and pointedly not looking at Vaan. "That way, we won't have anything more to fix if something happens to go wrong."

"I took care of her for a year, Balthier. I think I can manage not to break her."

Balthier looked over at the boy then, a snappish remark on his tongue. But that remark was stopped cold as Balthier met Vaan's blue-grey eyes and noted the steely look to them. Vaan was offended that Balthier thought so little of his skills, the man realized, and Vaan was also offended that Balthier was taking his foul mood out on him when, to Vaan, he'd clearly done nothing to deserve it. So Balthier simply raised his hand in a dismissive gesture and watched Vaan head back into the _Strahl_. Or, more accurately, he watched Vaan's black-clad ass disappear into the ship.

The boy was still fond of wearing tight pants and a half-vest that did nothing to hide his well-muscled and defined body. The only concession he made for decency was the random length of colored cloth he wound around his waist that, depending on how he moved, hid his backside or revealed it. Balthier was convinced that Vaan wore those clothes just to tease him, but seeing as Penelo still wore her skintight jumpsuit, his theory had a bit of a flaw in it. Once Vaan disappeared inside the airship, Balthier turned his attention back to the sky and folded his arms across his chest, scowling at nothing in particular. At least until he heard a loud _kzzzt!_ and Vaan's pain-filled cry.

Then he was in the _Strahl_ in a flash, immediately by Vaan's side as the boy sprawled on the floor clutching his hand. His fingers were burned and hooked into a claw, and nothing either of them did seemed to get Vaan's muscles to relax. Balthier used a Curaja on Vaan's limb, then took it between his hands to inspect the healing flesh, ensuring no other damage had been done to Vaan. Two seconds later, Balthier realized what he was doing and glanced up to see Vaan staring at him with tear-and-pain filled, beautiful, blue-grey eyes.

Silence filled the space between them.

Then Vaan inhaled sharply and said, "Penelo rigged a lightning trap on the engine room door."

Balthier stared at him. "She did what now?"

"Penelo sabotaged the engine room door."

"How do you know it was Penelo?"

"Because Fran would be more elegant about it."

Balthier cocked his head to the side in agreement, then rose and went to the engine room door. Sure enough, the lightning strap had definite signs of Penelo all over it, and try as he might, he couldn't get the door open now. It had been magnetized shut, and Balthier knew immediately that it hadn't just been Penelo who had made it so. And that's when it had all clicked into place for Balthier. All the facts quickly added up in his keen mind. Fran's constant attention, Penelo's secret smiles, the way the two ladies quickly made themselves scarce or found reasons to leave Balthier and Vaan alone. Balthier closed his eyes and silently cursed his best friend and her little sidekick. Couldn't they tell just as easily as he could that Vaan was either stupid or uninterested or both?

"Well," Balthier said with an unpleasant tone, "looks like we really do have to wait until the ladies return. Whenever that will be."

"Oh,"

That one little word escaping from Vaan's mouth made Balthier look toward the boy. Vaan looked somewhere between regretful and sheepish and was rubbing the back of his neck in that nervous gesture of his. Balthier just continued to stare, much like a wolf that had set his sights on a fat chocobo. Vaan flushed slightly but met the sky pirate's gaze evenly.

"Oh?" repeated Balthier.

Vaan flushed an even deeper shade of crimson. "I know why she did this."

Balthier stared. "Please, do enlighten me, Vaan."

"I might have mentioned to her that, um..."

"Mentioned what, Vaan?" It was cute how flustered the normally-energetic loudmouth was getting, especially as Balthier began to close the distance between them. Vaan was still seated on the floor, which made it easier for Balthier to trap him when he got close enough. Balthier crouched in between Vaan's splayed legs and said again, "Mentioned _what_ , Vaan?"

He wondered for a moment if the boy was dead, considering how much blood suffused his face. Then Vaan shuddered as he took a deep breath and said, "I might've mentioned that I, um, wasn't getting anywhere with you?"

Balthier blinked, unsure if he believed what he was hearing. "That you weren't getting... anywhere... with me?" he repeated, certain he'd misunderstood Vaan's meaning.

The boy's blonde head dropped slightly so Balthier could no longer see his eyes. "Well, I guess it all started when you saved my ass in Nalbina dungeon. I wanted to be a sky pirate just like you, you know, but then I just wanted to _be_ with you, but I couldn't because there were so many things going on and we were never really alone together. Ashe was always around, or Basch, and of course, Penelo caught on right away, and she made me tell her that I..." Vaan suddenly went silent and looked up at Balthier through the soft strands of his hair. "Balthier?"

The sky pirate wore a stricken look on his face, as if he couldn't decide between howling madly with laughter or throttling the youth before him. "All this time," Balthier began, his voice low and even, "you were trying to get my attention?"

Vaan nodded mutely.

"Despite the fact you were completely oblivious to everything I said or did where it concerned you?"

Vaan squirmed. "I couldn't tell if you were serious."

Balthier was silent. He stared at Vaan. "You... couldn't tell if I was serious about being absolutely madly in love with you?"

Vaan licked his lips and wondered what the appropriate response was. Finally he said, "You were always so sarcastic while we traveled together across Ivalice, so yeah. I couldn't tell. And I was too afraid to say anything myself, considering you're the leading man and all."

"And here I thought you were just too stupid to realize it."

That definitely got Vaan's back up, for the boy tensed and narrowed his eyes at Balthier. "Well, excuse me for not being sure and coming off as stupid to you! You're such a jerk, Balthier! I can't believe-"

Whatever Vaan's rant might have been, Balthier silenced it by tangling his fingers in Vaan's soft blonde hair and pulling him into a breath-stealing kiss. It was everything both of them had imagined and more, and somehow both gained their feet and fumbled their way to Balthier's room, where they'd ended up as they were now, naked on Balthier's bed, with Balthier on top of Vaan, caressing the boy's tanned skin with his tongue. And no matter where Balthier slid his tongue or nibbled, he couldn't seem to get Vaan to be as loud as he usually was. Which, ultimately, suited him just fine.

"Balthier," Vaan panted breathily, arching against the man's mouth as Balthier purposefully avoided touching Vaan's erection in favor of nibbling his thighs. He left light bruises along the silky flesh as he traveled lower, down Vaan's right leg and up his left until he could cover the boy with his body and kiss him again.

Vaan's arms wrapped around his neck and his fingers curled in Balthier's short brown hair, tugging lightly as their tongues dueled each other. Balthier broke away panting, staring down at Vaan's pleasure-filled eyes. Vaan stared back, his breathing equally rapid.

"You're sure the ladies won't be returning any time soon?" Balthier asked.

"Fran did say not to expect them back until sunset."

"Ah, well then."

A noise between a gasp and a cry escaped Vaan as Balthier suddenly moved down his body and wrapped his lips around his length. The sky pirate took Vaan deep into his throat, his eyes ever on the boy's face, watching Vaan's eyes close tight and his spine bend again as pleasure assaulted his senses. Vaan's musk filled Balthier's nose like the aroma of a fine wine, and there was a sweetness on Balthier's tongue that he never would've thought to associate with the loudmouth blonde. Balthier slowly ran his tongue up the shaft, reveling in the noises that simple action elicited from Vaan. The blonde squirmed beneath him, panting and giving him whimpering pleas that most often just contained a syllable or three of Balthier's name.

"Balthier!" Vaan whimpered. "I'm going to... I'm gonna...!"

Balthier allowed Vaan to slide out of his mouth then, and he leaned up to kiss the blonde, effectively silencing any protest. When he pulled back, he smiled down at Vaan and said, "No, you're not. At least, not until I'm inside you."

"Huh?"

"You'll find out shortly, love."

Balthier quickly retrieved a healing potion from his satchel where it lay on the floor, then returned to his original position between his lover's legs. As he cracked the seal on the potion, Balthier urged Vaan to spread his legs a little wider, and once the boy was in the position Balthier wanted, he poured a liberal coating of the potion over three of his fingers.

He realized Vaan was watching him with the same expression he'd worn when they had traveled through the Nalbina dungeon: curiosity with a touch of fear. Balthier didn't want to scare Vaan away from being this close, this intimate, because Balthier enjoyed physical gratification very much so, and he'd already become addicted to the feel of Vaan's body against his, as well as the sounds - or lack thereof - that Vaan made in the throes of passion. He didn't want to be restricted in his love life, and so proceeded with caution. At the same time the first of Balthier's fingers circled Vaan's hole, Balthier caught Vaan in a bruising kiss that distracted the boy for a full five seconds before he realized something was worming its way inside him. Vaan broke their kiss with a sharp gasp and squirmed, toes curling, as Balthier wriggled the first digit around inside him.

"Vaan?" Balthier questioned.

"It feels wrong." Vaan said at last, flushed and panting. "It hurts."

Which was the exact response Balthier had wanted to avoid. So he said, "Shall I stop?"

"No! No," Vaan shook his head. "I want to keep going. Besides, I trust you. You'd never hurt me on purpose."

Balthier raised an elegant brow. "What makes you so sure about that, Vaan?"

"Like I said. I trust you." An impish smile curved Vaan's lips. He pushed himself up with one hand and used the other to find purchase around Balthier's neck to pull him closer to the older man. Then Vaan brushed his lips against the soft shell of Balthier's ear and whispered, "Because I love you."

Balthier shivered at those four words, turned his head, and captured Vaan's mouth in a soul-searing kiss. At the same time, he pulled his finger out from Vaan's body only to return it with its two brethren, pushing them as deep into the boy as he could. Vaan gasped into the kiss and writhed on Balthier's fingers, and a second later, let out the purest sound of absolute ecstasy. Balthier sank his teeth into Vaan's neck as he abused that spot deep inside his lover, feeling Vaan's muscles constrict around his fingers. Over and over, Balthier thrust his fingers into Vaan, spreading his digits apart as he did so to loosen those ever-tightening muscles.

When Vaan at last bit into Balthier's shoulder hard enough to leave a serious bruise, the man pulled his fingers from his body and searched for the discarded healing potion bottle, pouring the fluid into his hand to coat his length. Then Balthier gripped Vaan's thighs to both push his legs wider apart and to pull the boy closer to him. In one swift movement, Balthier sheathed himself inside of Vaan, deep enough that Vaan was practically sitting - somewhat awkwardly - in Balthier's lap.

The sound Vaan made at being impaled by Balthier's cock nearly undid the man. But somehow Balthier kept control of himself, gripped Vaan's hips, and began to move, thrusting into the boy at an easy, leisurely pace. Vaan wrapped his arms around Balthier's shoulders and let his head fall back as the man's lips trailed wetly over the flesh of his throat.

How long they moved like that, Vaan didn't know. It was a pleasurable eternity, and he didn't want it to end. The only sounds that filled the room were their breathing and a few words here and there from Balthier that made Vaan's heart quicken even more and his body tighten as a thrill went through it. Balthier grunted as Vaan grew tighter around his cock, and knew the end was nigh upon them when Vaan whimpered his name. So Balthier pulled out of Vaan and turned him onto his hands and knees before pushing back into him. He wrapped his arms around Vaan's middle and pulled the teenager up and back against him, so he could simultaneously thrust deeper into Vaan's body and wrap his hand around the boy's equally hard cock, stroking in time with his thrusts.

Vaan's head fell back against Balthier's shoulder and his eyes - smoldering with passion and love - met Balthier's. The sky pirate's breath hitched, as did Vaan's, and they came together. Balthier moaned softly against Vaan's flesh as his essence filled the boy to the very last drop and Vaan let out an expletive that pretty much summed up his state of mind as his own seed ribboned onto Balthier's fingers and the sheets beneath them.

It took a long time for the two to extricate themselves from each other's grip, and Vaan's legs protested his weight when he tried to stand, earning a deep, pleased laugh from Balthier. So, for a while, the two lay in bed together, Balthier's arm around Vaan while Vaan rested his head against Balthier's chest and listened to his heartbeat.

Then Vaan said, "I meant what I said."

"I love you, too, Vaan. For a very long time now."

"What do we do when Penelo and Fran get back?"

"Hm, now that is a conundrum, isn't it?" Balthier smiled.

Vaan propped himself up on an elbow to gaze down at his lover, uncertain how to interpret Balthier's expression. It was a cross between extremely pleased and extremely angry. Vaan sympathized, because if it hadn't been for Fran and Penelo's sabotage, he and Balthier might not have ended up where they were currently, but that sabotage had also grounded the _Strahl_ and Balthier didn't enjoy anyone tampering with his airship. Balthier's green eyes held a sort of mischief as he gazed at Vaan, and his lips quirked in a slight smile.

Unsure but game, Vaan smiled back. "They're going to regret this, aren't they?"

"Only partly."

As Balthier explained his plan, they cleaned up and dressed, then settled in to wait for their unsuspecting friends to return.


End file.
